Southern Tier 422 Pale Wheat Ale

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: Wheat Ale
Lakewood, New York USA

Serve in Shaker, Weizen

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12 ounce bottle into pint glass, bottled on 3/12/2013. Pours very hazy golden straw color with a nice 2 finger dense and fluffy bright white head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice soapy lacing clings down the glass. Aromas of lemon, orange zest, pear, wheat, bread, pepper, light clove, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and strength of bready malt and fruity/spicy yeast and hop notes. Taste of lemon, orange zest, pear, pepper, wheat, clove, bread, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness. Light amount of spicy floral bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of citrus, pepper, clove, wheat, bread, floral, grass, and earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Damn nice flavor balance and robustness of hop, malt, and yeast flavors; with no cloying flavors on the finish as expected. Medium carbonation and body; with a slightly creamy, smooth, and crisp mouthfeel that is great. Alcohol is very well hidden with almost zero warming noticed after the finish. Overall this is an excellent pale wheat ale! All around nice balance and robustness of flavors; and extremely smooth to drink. Really enjoyed this one; best pale wheat ale I have had yet.

Orange pour with creamy white head and lace. Wheaty malt dominates the nose. Flavor is sweet wheat, orange, and a light floral hop bitter. Light bodied with good carbonation.

Bottle:   Hazy orangish straw, large frothy white head, nice lacing.   Pale wheaty nose, slightly spicy even.   Nice clean wheatiness on the tongue, but not as spiced as the nose suggested.   Luckily no sulfur or other associated aromas/flavors so common with the American style.   Body and mouthfeel are moderate.   A little bready and wheaty on the finish, with a touch of fruit in the finish.   Better than I expected, and sweeter than usual.

Orange hue slim head faint wheat aroma. Very light fruity wheat. Not extremely sweet like most. I’d call it a wheat lite.

Cerveza bastante interesante, sabor ligeramente dulce y muy suave. Al principio puede parecer no muy buena, pero deja un sabor bueno. Ideal para la gente que no le gusten las cervezas muy lupuladas.

12 Fl. Oz. Bottle. Poured hazy, golden in color, small white head and some decent lacing. Aroma Wheat/grain, some hops (but faint). Taste is also grain and wheat, some malts, citrus notes a minimal presence of hops. Nice and drinkable but not remarkable.

Pours a hazy golden color with a thin white head. Aroma of sweet corn. Taste is slight graininess, lemon and very crisp.....finishing with slightly bitter aftertaste.

For the style it’s not bad. A little thin but very clean. Good to drink when it’s hot out but other than that, average.

Appearance: It’s a slightly hazy orange color with about a finger of soapy white head.

Aroma: There’s a little bit of a wheaty earthiness to it, but it isn’t a smell that knocks me back. Some hops, but not much.

Taste: The flavor falls into a grey for me because of the fact that Southern Tier is billing it as a “pale wheat ale.” Unfortunately, I don’t get much of the American wheat beer style beyond a touch of a spiciness mixed with some fresh cut grass. I also don’t get too much hops in the palate, either.

Overall: My problem with this beer is that there isn’t really anything about it that makes me crave it at all. It is between two styles, and I’m not sure that it is adequately capturing either of the parts of each that I enjoy. By no means is this a bad beer, but I guess it’s a hybrid that doesn’t quite bring anything beyond the sum of its parts.

Score: 6/10

Poured a clear golden color with a thick and frothy white head. Aroma is pretty faint but I caught lemon, grass, caramel, and not much else. Taste is lemon, grass, honey, orange, and a sweet/sour finish.